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Aske – BURZUM – 1993

Yes, this is the one with the burned church on the cover. In the same mold as “Hvis Lyset Tar Oss” with the same stylistic leanings, this remains essential to black metal lore. Burzum hadn’t reached the trance like stylings that were later achieved on Hvis Lyset Tar Oss or on Darkthrone’s Transilvanian Hunger – there are frequent riff changes and variety.

However these tracks remain classic black metal – they are primal – basic – feral. There is an ancient feeling here – the sound evokes something that existed long before even though the music is produced by modern instruments – the music feels as ancient as Stonehenge – as old as the cultures who worshipped nature and lived in caves. It hearkens back to the time when man adapted to nature and not the other way around. (Nature might adapt but the consequences of such adaptation are often disastrous for the human species – refer the recent natural “adaptation” in India where “developmental” activities led to floods in which many locals and pilgrims died. Maybe we should ask the pilgrims if their God would help them now.)

Black metal as espoused on this record is an experience – a feral one that lays bare the nature of this universe – unforgiving, unpredictable, primal and without a conscience. Burzum is the peak of black metal and along with the debut, Hvis Lyset Tar Oss and Aske, forms the perfect soundtrack for a modern society intent on consuming itself.